Lidarr — Automated Music Collection Manager

Introduction

Lidarr is the music counterpart to Sonarr and Radarr in the *arr stack. It tracks artist discographies via MusicBrainz metadata, monitors indexers for new releases, sends downloads to your preferred client, and imports files with clean folder structures.

What Lidarr Does

• Monitors artist catalogs and automatically searches for missing or new albums
• Integrates with Usenet indexers and BitTorrent trackers for release discovery
• Sends download requests to SABnzbd, NZBGet, qBittorrent, Deluge, or Transmission
• Renames and organizes files into a consistent artist/album/track folder hierarchy
• Upgrades existing files when a higher-quality release becomes available

Architecture Overview

Lidarr is a C# application running on .NET. It exposes a web UI on port 8686 and stores its configuration in an SQLite database. A scheduler periodically queries configured indexers via Newznab or Torznab APIs. When a matching release is found, Lidarr pushes it to the download client and monitors progress. On completion, it imports and renames files according to user-defined naming templates.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Deploy with Docker using the linuxserver/lidarr image or install natively on Linux, Windows, or macOS
• Add at least one indexer (Newznab or Torznab) and one download client during setup
• Configure root folders pointing to your music library location
• Set quality profiles to control preferred bitrate and format (FLAC, MP3 320, etc.)
• Connect Lidarr to a notification agent (email, Discord, Telegram) for grab and import alerts

Key Features

• Automatic calendar-based tracking of upcoming album releases
• Quality profile system with cutoff upgrades for lossless or specific formats
• Manual search and interactive release selection for individual albums
• Import lists to bulk-add artists from Spotify playlists or Last.fm
• REST API for integration with other homelab services and custom scripts

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Sonarr — same architecture but for TV shows, not music
• Radarr — same architecture but for movies
• Headphones — older Python-based music manager, less actively maintained
• Beets — CLI music tagger and organizer, no automated download integration
• Navidrome — music streaming server, does not handle acquisition

FAQ

Q: Where does Lidarr get its metadata? A: Lidarr uses MusicBrainz as its primary metadata source for artist and album information.

Q: Can Lidarr download from Spotify or YouTube? A: No. Lidarr searches Usenet and BitTorrent indexers. For Spotify playlist import, use the Import Lists feature to add artists, then Lidarr finds releases through indexers.

Q: How do I upgrade existing low-quality files? A: Set a quality cutoff in your profile. Lidarr will automatically search for and replace files below the cutoff when a better release appears.

Q: Does Lidarr work with Plex and Jellyfin? A: Yes. Point your media server at the same music root folder. Lidarr can also send library update notifications to Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby after imports.

Sources

• https://github.com/Lidarr/Lidarr
• https://lidarr.audio/docs/faq